The Similarity Network of Motion Pictures

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wei, Yanhao Max
• 署名单位: University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2018.3261
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 1647-1671
• 关键词: Market structure; Product similarity; networks; creativity; firm learning; MOVIES

摘要

Ideas are connected. New ideas are often seen as creative combinations of previous ideas. I study these connections in the context of motion pictures. A network of 4,445 movies is constructed to indicate which movies are similar. I first examine the properties of the network using descriptive and regression analysis; then I develop a model of network formation for counterfactual analysis. It is found that most movies imitate and evolve around a core of the more successful movies. In addition, imitation is both conventional and atypical: a new movie usually follows a stream of similar movies yet simultaneously combines atypical elements from movies outside this stream. This atypicality, if well balanced, has a positive effect on the individual movie's box office. However, I find that, in the long run, atypical combination may lead to a worse collective box-office performance because of the way it changes the market structure.